Maricopa County employee pleads not guilty in sexual assault

William Edmond is accused of sexually assaulting a woman with a wooden baseball bat and then pointing a gun at her. (Source: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

AVONDALE, AZ (CBS5) -

A 29-year-old Avondale man has pleaded not guilty in a violent sexual assault in front of the victim's children.

William Edmond, a former Maricopa County employee, made the plea Monday morning to two counts of felony sexual assault and two counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as some lesser charges.

Edmond is accused of sexually assaulting a woman with a wooden souvenir baseball bat on June 30 and pointing a handgun at her while her children were present.

The victim reported the assault to Avondale police and William Glen Edmond was arrested by officers at his apartment two days later.

The 29-year-old woman told police Edmond used a wrestling hold to pin her to a bed and used the wooden bat during the assault. During an argument later he pointed a .40-caliber handgun at her, she told police.

Another woman stepped between the two and Edmond grabbed the victim around the other woman, ripping the victim's shirt and breaking her necklace and cell phone, according to a court document.

The victim told police it wasn't the first incident with the suspect.

She said he pepper-sprayed her vagina in 2005, used a stun gun on her, had previously placed a gun in her mouth, and broke the high heels off shoes to expose the nails and threw them at her.

The court document showed Edmond obtained an order of protection on the same day of the alleged assault, claiming the victim struck him on the arm.

Police interviewed the intervening woman and the victim's 7-year-old daughter, who told police she saw Edmond hitting her mother with the bat, but said she did not see a gun, according to the document.

Edmond came to a child advocacy center after he learned the girl was being interviewed and was detained, according to the court document.

He was taken to Avondale where police interviewed him.

Edmond denied pepper-spraying the woman, but said he told her he would pepper-spray the toilet seat so it would burn her when she sat down. He also admitted to using the stun gun, but that he didn't remember pointing the gun at the victim June 30, according to the document.

MCSO said Edmond was hired in 2005 and most recently worked in the Custody Support Division. He was put on unpaid leave at the time of his arrest and has since been fired by Maricopa County.